The Ferris Wheel Incident
by Vinepetal
Summary: Twilight Sparkle was no expert on love. To be entirely honest, she had never had so much as a single date. Well, there was that thing in the mirror world, but that barely counted. But she had always been fairly certain she liked stallions, at least. She had never dated one, but she figured it was the most likely possibility. Of course, that was before it happened. Cover by LilyNya.


**_AN- Hello! I figured I would try my hand at a shipping one-shot. Hope you enjoy it!_**

**_My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro. Sandstorm Warrior only claims her own ideas. _**

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The Ferris Wheel Incident

One perfectly ordinary day, Pinkie Pie had invited Twilight to lunch at Sugarcube Corner. This was nothing abnormal- in fact, they did this nearly once a month. However, this time was very different. After lunch, Pinkie said with a glimmer of mischief she had a surprise for her purple Alicorn friend. Dragging her by the hoof, they journeyed into town, only stopping for Pinkie to tell a few dozen ponies hello.

When they arrived at their seeming destination, Twilight found a rather small town fair set up. She had know of this, but forgotten; going to a fair had not been in her schedule for that month. However, now Pinkie Pie was giggling and leading her to a small line for the Ferris Wheel. Twilight's heart dropped.

"Pinkie, this is very kind of you and all but..." she grasped for the right words to say. "I..I've never been on a Ferris Wheel before. And I really would rather not. I mean, I have more books to read at the Palace of the Two Sisters, and I need to finish writing a letter to my brother, and I really shouldn't leave Spike alone for this long and..."

To her surprise, Pinkie Pie laughed. "Oh, don't be scared, Twilight. It's just a little spinny thing," she declared. "It'll be fun!", she added.

"Um, I really fear that it is structurally unsafe," stated Twilight.

"Come on, you fly all the time! What are you scared of?", she asked.

Twilight hesitated. She wasn't entirely certain why she was afraid to do this. "Um, well... I read this book once where a Ferris Wheel broke down when these two Earth Ponies were on the top, and they couldn't get down until this Pegasus came to get them hours later...", she grasped.

"But you have wings and magic!", Pinkie exclaimed. "If we get stuck- which we probably won't, you can get us down."

Twilight exhaled. She supposed she had a point. "Besides," Pinkie added "remember- You've gotta face your fears and Giggle at the Ghosties. You were good at defeating horrific trees with laughter, so you can defeat this too, right?"

Half-heartedly giggling, Twilight nodded. "We can just laugh and make this fun," she resolved. They then trotted over to the rather short queue for the ride. Shortly, they got up and the wheel rose slowly.

Looking out the window, Pinkie burst into laughter. "Look! Everypony looks all tiny from up here!", she exclaimed. Twilight looked as well and chuckled lightly. She could certainly admit she was right. It was fun watching them getting smaller. Through the entire ride, they laughed and, to be entirely honest, had a great time. It was only when Twilight got off she remembered why she had been scared in the first place- something she did not want to admit to herself.

In that book, the two ponies riding the Ferris Wheel had fallen in love.

Twilight dashed off, blushing. She couldn't love Pinkie Pie- it was not only unlikely, but it could be disastrous! While they no longer had the Elements of Harmony, what if the box contained new ones? Or some other sort of Friendship Weapon? If it did, then the entire safety of Equestria rode on the friendship between all of them! If she loved Pinkie, then it was entirely likely that her feelings were not returned. If she told Pinkie, then it was very likely one of them could start resenting the other, or be upset. If they were no longer friends, not only would that wreck Twilight, but it would possibly destroy Equestria!

She tried convincing herself it was all in her head. But she couldn't get out of her head how Pinkie Pie was able to make her feel happy and safe during something that, without her would have been quite horrific. Her laughter protected her, and she could not deny that she knew this was something she had been ignoring for a while. But she had to ignore it and dash back to her house. This could never be. This should never be.

* * *

Twilight tried very hard to ignore this... growing attraction to Pinkie Pie, but it proved very hard. She did not know what to do about it, and just attempted to distract herself. Of course, the more books she read, the more Pinkie Pie popped into her thoughts. Her optimism, her laughter, her curly cotton-candy hair... Twilight had no clue how to stop it, but she knew her heart had gone to Pinkie and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Finally, Twilight knew she had to talk to somepony, anypony about this. She decided to write a letter to Cadence asking for advice; her special talent was love, after all. She carefully thought over her letter, and eventually came up with something like-

Dear Princess Cadence,

I have a slight crisis on my hooves. I may have by accident developed a small crush on somepony I know does not reciprocate my feelings. Please, if you can, tell me how to get rid of this crush.

Your faithful Sister-in-Law,

Twilight Sparkle

She had Spike send this, not telling her what it was, only that it was meant for Cadence. He looked at her oddly and sent it swiftly, belching a reply up in a matter of minutes. It read

Twilight,

You shouldn't be afraid of your feelings! Love is not something anypony can stop. If you really do like him (or her), just accept it and wait to see what happens. You might find it's not as impossible as you might think!

Yours truly,

Cadence

PS, if this does work out, and you ever need any help, I'm just a letter away, and I will gladly take the train down at a moment's notice.

The letter made Twilight's heart drop. Cadence couldn't help! She just said to accept it! She wondered if she should have mentioned that the fate of Equestria rode on them being friends, but she shook her head. That would make it at least a one-in-five chance of Cadence discovering who it was. Twilight just decided not to tell anypony else unless she absolutely had to.

Of course, she happened to have a fitting for a new Princess-y gown with Rarity that afternoon, so it may have started exploding within her while standing there, being still as Rarity took things in.

Finally, she blurted out "What am I supposed to do if I have a crush on somepony?". Rarity stared at her for a moment before smiling.

"Well, it is high time you asked! Fluttershy, Applejack, even Rainbow Dash have asked me the same thing!", she squealed happily. "Now, tell me, who's the lucky Stallion?"

Twilight blushed and shook her head, accidentally knocking a few pins off her collar. Rarity clicked her tongue in annoyance as she replaced them. "Oh, you're not going to tell, are you?", she stated disappointedly. "Well, I can try to help you out the best I can. Tell me, what exactly happened."

"I-it was at the fair last weekend. On the Ferris Wheel, s-she convinced me to go in it with her," Twilight stammered.

A look of surprise crossed Rarity's face. "'Her'? Twilight, I never knew that about you!", she exclaimed. "Funny how you can be friends with someone for years and not know the most basic things!"

Twilight realized what she had said and blushed in embarrassment. "D-did I say that?"

"Yes, Twilight," Rarity stated. "You did. So, who is the lucky mare?"

"I can't tell you," Twilight said sadly.

Rarity let out a high-pitched squee. "Really! It it somepony I know?"

Twilight simply stood, trying not to confirm or deny her suspicions, but she kept eagerly asking questions; she had abandoned Twilight's fitting all together. "It it Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy? Pinkie Pie? Applejack? Please, tell me! I Pinkie-Pie-Promice I won't tell a soul!"

"Um, yes, one of those...", she muttered.

"Well, which one?"

"Who do you think?", Twilight asked softly.

Rarity looked as if she were thinking quite seriously. "Well, Rainbow Dash is a bit brash, but you both love Daring Doo. And Applejack is a hard worker, but far too stubborn. Fluttershy? Maybe. Or Pinkie; they say opposites attract. Not me, certainly. You said it was one of the ones I asked about.", she muttered. Finally, she turned back to Twilight, looking defeated. "I give up. Pray tell, who it it?"

"P-Pin..." was all she could get out.

Rarity squealed once more. "Oh, you two would be adorable together! You know, she is the only one of us that hasn't asked me about a stallion- or a mare for that matter. You might have a chance!", she cried.

Twilight then politely told her that she had changed her mind about advice, and a cheerful Rarity finished the fitting and sent Twilight home with a smile and a promise the dress would be finished soon. Twilight returned to her studies, and practically put herself in a trance of words and information, only realizing she had been reading for eighteen hours straight when Spike tapped her on the shoulder in the morning, asking where the bread was.

"I-in the pantry or something," she muttered.

Spike nodded and started towards the kitchen. "Oh, and by the way, Pinkie Pie's at the door. Something about breakfast," he told. Twilight let out a small scream and hurriedly brushed her mane as she ran to the door, finding her cotton-candy colored love standing before her.

"Hi Twilight!", she exclaimed. "Rarity told me that you were super busy, but that you really wanted to ask me to breakfast, so I came. Do you want to go grab scones and doughnuts at Sugarcube Corner?"

Twilight was frozen in fear. Rarity must has set this up, thinking it would help her. She decided, perhaps not wisely so considering her sleep-deprivation, to play along. They went to Sugarcube Corner, sitting together with breakfast pastries by the window. "So, um, Pinkie, how are you?", she asked awkwardly.

"Great!", Pinkie grinned. "I have something exciting to tell you!"

"Oh, what?", Twilight asked sleepily.

"I have a date tonight!", she exclaimed.

Twilight's heart fell a million miles. "Really?", she asked, forcing a smile. "With whom?"

"Cheese Sandwich asked me to go to this really cool party he was throwing, and he said we could go get cupcakes and lemonade later!", she exclaimed. "Isn't that cool!"

"Yeah," Twilight stated dejectedly. "I'm just a little disappointed, that's all," she blurted.

Pinkie Pie put her hoof on Twilight's cheek. "I'm sorry Twilight. I really do like you, but you're my friend. But maybe it won't be like that always. I'm sure this thing with him will be nothing, and maybe I'll feel differently then," she stated kindly.

Twilight simply stared in astonishment. "H-how did you-?"

"Spike was worried about you, and he told me something he had overheard you saying to yourself about liking me," Pinkie said. "I just wanted you to know, so you would stop worrying, I don't feel any differently about you- you're still one of my best friends. And I just hope you can wait a little while until I figure out if I feel the same way, alright." She extended her hoof to Twilight.

"I can live with that," Twilight replied, smiling. She may not have her wish, but this was better than she could have ever hoped for. Pinkie Pie still wanted to be her friend, and said that they weren't entirely out of the realm of possibility. And that was alright for now.

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**_Thank you for reading!_**

**_-Sandstorm Warrior_**


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